History of Fitness Episode I: The Standing Press

Today I want to review with you a lift that has actually held notoriety for over 100 years (at least in documented history). This lift is the standing press. If you’ve ever seen an old poster advertising a circus strongman, more often than not the strongman is pictured hoisting a heavy load overhead. Indeed, for many, overhead lifting was a crucial component to their act, albeit through various methods.

One example is the great circus strongman Arthur Saxon, who performed in the Saxon trio with a career that spanned the late 1800s-early 1900s. A mark of strength for these early strongman was how much they could “bent press” (similar to the way the bench press is viewed today). To do the "bent-press" you get the load to your shoulder area, contort your spine until your upper body is about parallel with the floor, have your opposite arm resting on your knee, and press until the weight is locked. Strange for us to think about today, especially considering the incredible strain this would place on the back; but back then it was almost a mark of manhood. Arthur Saxon still holds the world record with a bent press of 370 lb (with unofficial reports of a press of 409.5 lb)!

Other popular over-the-head lifts in the early days of “fitness culture” were as follows: the "1 or 2 Handed Dumbbell Press", the "1 or 2 Handed Barbell Press", the "Clean and Press", the "Clean and Jerk", the "Snatch", and other ways of lifting various objects (often awkward) overhead. Why wasn’t the bench press as popular back then? Well, because… it really didn’t exist for several decades. The closest thing was a strict floor press, and without two spotters it was very difficult to get the bar into proper position.

So fitness enthusiast in this time period seemed to prefer the standing press to any type of supinated (laying on your back) movement largely because of convenience and feasibility. The mindset was that if you had weights, you could standing press anywhere!

The standing press actually enjoyed a good run as an Olympic event from 1924- 1972. Why was it dropped? Several reasons have been given: a high level/rate of injuries, not maintaining a strict press (using the legs and lower back), and competitors hyper-extending the lower back to give a more advantageous position for pressing. Although dropped as a competition lift, most Olympic weightlifters continued to perform it in training as an assistance lift to better perform in the clean and jerk. However, various forms of the standing press continued on in World’s Strongest Man competitions. Strongman extraordinaire Bill Kazmair was notoriously good at it. He once pressed a 375 lb. log over his head in a competition (which is much harder to lift than a normal barbell.), and boasts a 495 lb. standing press.

The standing press has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past several years. Many argue it’s safer for your shoulders than horizontal pressing, which is not necessarily true. The fact of the matter is, when either exercise is performed wrong, both pose injury risks. There are many things that come into play, such as joint structure, technique, musculature balance, and flexibility. If an exercise hurts you in a bad way, don’t do it. There are multiple roads that will lead to Rome, but here are a couple of areas to monitor if you desire to perform the standing press:

Shoulders

Vertical pressing can wreak havoc on the glenohumeral joint. Ensure proper technique and pay attention to how your shoulder joint feels.

Lower Back/Spinal Column

Hyper-extending your back is a good way to injure a disk or even fracture vertebrae. With the standing press, it is very important to keep normal spine positioning through the whole movement. Do not lean back as you press up!

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Overhead pressing will always be an impressive display of strength. But when selecting an exercise, it’s important to consider the risk to benefit ratio, as well as how your body feels when performing the exercise.